Hazing and such

[Hansol]

Hey all,

I'm just wondering about what kind of punishment the army, as well as your friends, dish out when you screw up during basic. A buddy of mine in the reserves was telling me that a member of his platoon screwed up and the whole platoon had to do rifle PT, which i am told is the most painful thing in the world. Another time, a guy went to bed sick and in the morning had "bladed" tattooed across his head in Sharpie ink.

So i spose what i am wondering is first, what the hell is rifle PT. Second, when you screw up, what can you expect from the instructors? And last, if you do screw up, will your fellow recruits be pricks about it and help you through? Or will they (after a while) think you are a lost cause and torment you all the way through basic.

Now i know this conjurs up Full metal jacket nonsense, but i already know that is crap. I just would like to know what to expect from people who have been there. Cheers -Cameron

 

[PuckChaser]

My basic wasn't like Full Metal Jacket. My PL suffered for a few people screwing up, and the shame of it being thier fault was punishment enoug. One of these times, a room decided to take matters into thier own hands, by sorting out another room, who kept leaving thier room unlocked. They got punished more than us, they had to make thier room outside inspection ready.

Sharpie thing sounds believable, its one of those things that lets the guy know he screwed up, without exposing yourself to punishment.

Rifle PT, involves holding a rifle at arms-length, in various directions with one or both hands. Its difficult to do for long periods of time, which its usually done for! Now, for an extra bit of fun, try the invisible chair with a C6. I'll never leave my rifle cocked again.  ;D

 

[Pte. Bloggins]

And last, if you do screw up, will your fellow recruits be pricks about it and help you through? Or will they (after a while) think you are a lost cause and torment you all the way through basic.

Everyone screws up at some point. It's basic: it's impossible to do everything right all the time. If, say, someone keeps getting in crap because of a poor polish job on their boots or whatever, a buddy will help them out- it's called teamwork and is one of the main things basic teaches you.

Now, if someone displays a piss-poor attitude towards everything and refuses to try hard and work as part of a team, other people might not treat them as part of the team either.

EDIT: Oh yeah I forgot to mention, hazing and 'blanket parties' (like the one in FMJ) are illegal in the CF. If instructors found out something like that happened on their course,  the age-old principle of excrement descending from a great height will take swift effect.

 

[the 48th regulator]

I can say all the jazz about my course, as it happened, late 80's, full metal jacket yep all that business.

Things like that to me has kinda eased up a bit.  Was it the videos we saw of the Airborne on the telly?  hmm I don't think so, I beleive it was the way society was going (that can be a thread in itself).  We have started to ease away from that macho rah rah rah shite..

But In my view I didn't see much of tha hardcore hazing, just the occasional three man lift......


tess

 

[SHELLDRAKE!!]

The idea you need to grasp is there will always be someone out there that thinks hazing is a part of the military but It is almost 100% sure that it would be a fellow course mate rather than an instructor.When an instructure administers "group punishment" it is not to satisfy a sick sense of personal pleasure but rather to create a sense of togetherness amongst the troops.A good concept to keep in the back of your mind is that particularily in basic training, no matter what you do will be corrected because everyone needs to start at basically an incompetent level and eventually built up to grad day.The only way to fail is fight against your course and give up on yourself.

 

[the 48th regulator]

very good post shelldrake, that is bang on.

cheers
tess

 

[Fishbone Jones]

Remedial drill, PT and training I can see as acceptable. I would think you'd want to be very careful with the term "Group Punishment" though.

 

[SHELLDRAKE!!]

To clarify my reference to "group punishment" I was referring to the occasions when a level of learning is achieved as a group as opposed to individually. I believe it is now common practice that if pushups are to be administered, the instructor will do them with the candidates.At any rate, the pushups are not being given so much as a punishment but rather as a chance for all to improve physical fitness.The term hazing as I understand you are referring to is, in these days , only kept alive by those who are the least knowledgable of the CF and feel their only way to deal with things are to be the "school yard bully".I wouldnt lose a second of sleep over this, as a matter of fact most people in the CF have nothing but positive memories that make for great drinking stories.

 

[Tpr.Orange]

Now, for an extra bit of fun, try the invisible chair with a C6. I'll never leave my rifle cocked again.   ;D

Invisible chair is always a good one because when one person screws up you make him and his battle buddy do it against eachother.

 

[Hansol]

well thanks very much for the input.

My friend just seemed to make army life, and more specifically basic seem super hardcore. He made it come across that everything you do you have to be perfect at or else you are in deep shit and your buddies suddenly hate you. I think one of the things he told me, and you can quote him, is that "as soon as you start training, you are in hell. And about the only thing you have to look forward to is knowing that at some point it ends."

So as you can see, i just wanted clarification as to how intense training actually is, as well as how intense the people you train with are. cheers -Cameron

 

[Kevin_B]

"as soon as you start training, you are in heck. And about the only thing you have to look forward to is knowing that at some point it ends."


Is it just me or does that sound like something from a movie script? I think your buddy was exaggerating things a bit.

 

[MikeM]

Sounds to be from a movie.. and thats not exactly true about training. Although mine was tough I was happy to be there and although times were very tough at points... I still thought it was well worth it, I found that out on grad day.

As for the hazing and stuff, most of what was posted above is similar to what happened on my courses this past summer, the invisible chair, 5th point of flight procedure, remedial PT and drill, etc. There were a few cases where members in our platoon were sorted out by other platoon members.

 

[Pugnacious]

Greetings!

I'm not in the Army 'yet', but this subject has come up with members of my family that are in the Army, and they seem to agree with me that  the Hazing thing is one of those life IQ test, ie...allowing someone to do this to you say lots about ones lack off self esteem, and pride as a human...like how much suffering does one need to feel like they are a part of something?

Take a long hard look at what the Russian Army  is like these days and what it's hazing does to it's young people (mostly conscripts to add insult to injury)..It is very sad, and pointless IMHO.

Just my civillian thoughts...be gentle with me. 

Cheers!
P.

 

[Jarnhamar]

If theres two things i've found true about basic training courses they are

1. Guys will always embellish how hard their course was and all the crap they had to do. Somehow I think they link a rough basic training course with themselves being tougher or macho.  oh god i had it so hard yap yap yap.  I've had guys on course with me tell me about their basic training and flat out lie to me (or whoever they are telling the story to) about the training they went though.  "We never got more than 4 hours of sleep per night"  Bullshit, you were always stealing naps and among the first to bed.
Unless your a complete walking disaster, you bounch a helmet off your knee to send yourself home or you do something profoundly stupid the only way your going to fail the course is if you quit.

2. Everyone feels their course was much much harder than the following course.

 

[Sgt.Fitzpatrick]

As a cadet who's been on some summer camps I've "hazing" done it was nothing bad. It was done by dumb cadets to show off.